Yitao Huang was awarded an American Heart Association (AHA) Predoctoral Fellowship in January of 2022. Yitao is pursuing his PhD studies on vascular disease in the Physiology PhD program under the mentorship of Dr. Lianwang Guo. His specific focus is on aneurysm and vascular re-narrowing after angioplasty. Angioplasty is one of the most widely used procedures to treat vascular diseases that causes narrowed or blocked blood vessels. Unfortunately, there is a high risk of the vessels narrowing after surgery. This is of particular significance given that a ruptured aneurysm can prove fatal within minutes. When asked about what motivates his studies, Yitao shared that, according to Chinese medical philosophy, the cardiovascular system is the central system of the human body. He witnessed his grandparents long-term suffering due to cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Their experience drove him to devote himself to biomedical research, which he has been pursuing since high school. For his undergraduate studies at Peking University, Yitao participated in studies that focused on vascular diseases in Dr. Jing Zhou’s lab. This experience helped him further define his field of study and research goals. In the future, Yitao hopes to find ways to mitigate vascular problems as an independent researcher in the field of cardiovascular research. He wants his research to translate into practice from the labs, bringing real benefits to patients.